Meat

Canned refried beans are a cabinet staple in most Mexican homes, but you can expand your flavor options by doctoring your beans in a few easy steps.

If you’re like me, you probably keep a can or two of refried beans in the cabinet at all times. In fact, I usually keep a can of refried pinto beans and a can of refried black beans in there because one can never be too sure when an occasion requiring beans could arise in a Mexican-American household. Am I right?

And while you may be perfectly OK with always eating the same beans out of a can, you have no idea what you’re missing out on if you’d just play with your food a little bit!…

Chicharrón guisado is an easy, flavorful dish made from crunchy, fried pork skin stewed in salsa, and it makes incredible tacos.

The best part about this dish is that it’s incredibly easy to make, packs a ton of flavor, and using a slow-cooker means it’s mostly a hands-off recipe.

There’s a taquería in Los Angeles I really love called Guisados, and lucky for me, they have a location right near where I work. They make a taco de chicharrón guisado that’s very similar to this recipe, and they serve it on a corn tortilla over refried black beans, and topped with a little dollop of avocado salsa verde, which is how I served them here as well, but you can serve it without beans (or different beans) and whatever kind of salsa you like on top.

There are lots of recipes out there for chicharrón guisado—mostly in Spanish—and there’s one key departure in my version aside from using a slow-cooker: I use chile morita, which is a small, dried and smoked chile. I also like to serve these on smaller tortillas (about 4.5 inches round instead of the standard 6 inches) because it makes you feel more like you’re in a taquería….

These baked taquitos, or baked flautas, are a healthier version of the classic fried taquito that your family will love!

As a kid, one of my all-time favorite meals was taquitos de pollo (in fact, it still is one of my favorites). Anytime my mom would take me to a Mexican restaurant, I would always order this fried taco dish no matter what else was on the menu—whether it was called a taquito, flauta, or something else.

This post is part of a compensated campaign with Herdez. All opinions and the recipe here are my own.

So I wanted to recreate an easier, healthier, kid-friendly version of my childhood favorite. …

Frijol con puerco is a popular dish from the Yucatán area of Mexico and is considered a guiso, or stew.

This post is part of a compensated campaign with the National Pork Board but all opinions and the recipe here are my own.

I like to use boneless country-style ribs for this dish, as they typically are very meaty and juicy. This cut comes from the sirloin or rib-end of the pork loin.

Traditionally, this dish was sometimes also made with the tail and ear as well. However, in modern times, it’s become more common to see the dish made without it. This recipe was originally taught to me by a family friend in 2009 and I’ve since adapted it to my own style.

Chicken tinga, also known as tinga poblana or tinga de pollo, is a flavorful, authentic Mexican dish that you can get on the dinner table in less than an hour.

There are a few key ingredients to this recipe that help you get it on the table quickly: Store-bought rotisserie chicken, tomato sauce and canned diced tomatoes. Like many traditional Mexican dishes, tomatoes are an important flavor as the base of this recipe.And if you shred the chicken in advance or have some help shredding it, you’ll really have dinner ready in no time!

This post is part of a compensated campaign in collaboration with Hunt’s and Latina Bloggers Connect. All opinions and the recipe are my own.

This tangy, slightly spicy, stewed dish originally comes from the state of Puebla and is sometimes also made with shredded beef or pork instead of chicken. Ingredients in this dish can sometimes vary slightly from family to family, but most recipes have a tomato base, call for chorizo and fresh tomatillos—all of which, when combined, lend a little umami flavor and texture to this popular dish.

Cooking with fresh, natural and quality ingredients to feed my family is very important to me and I know it’s important to you, too. I’ve used Hunt’s tomato sauce and canned tomatoes in my kitchen for several years because they’re grown in California, canned within hours of being picked, have no artificial preservatives and are 100 percent natural, so I feel good about feeding my family with healthy, natural ingredients in my recipes that call for tomatoes when they’re out of season or I don’t have time to make tomato sauce from scratch.

Paired with chipotles in adobo sauce and fresh onion, garlic, and spices you surely already keep in your pantry, this dish is sure to become a family favorite if it isn’t already a dish you eat regularly.

And the bonus? You really only need to dirty one pan to make it!

Tinga is commonly served on top of tostadas with garnishes such as crema mexicana, avocado, shredded lettuce and queso fresco. Tinga can also be served on its own with a side of rice, as tacos or inside of a quesadilla (sometimes known as tingadillas).

Instructions

Cook 6-7 ounces of chorizo in a frying pan. Drain grease from cooked chorizo on

While the chorizo is cooking, hand-shred rotisserie chicken until you have four cups and set aside.

In a large skillet over medium heat, combine cooked chorizo, diced white onion and garlic. Sautee until the onion starts to turn transparent, about 5-7 minutes.

In a blender or a small food processor, add 1 ¼ cups Hunt’s tomato sauce, 2 chipotle chiles and 6 tablespoons of adobo sauce from the canned chipotles in adobo. Puree until completely smooth.

Pour the tomato sauce mixture into the skillet and reduce the heat to low. Add 1 cup of Hunt’s petite diced tomatoes, Mexican oregano, thyme, marjoram, freshly ground pepper and tuck two bay leaves into the skillet so they’re submerged in the sauce. Stir to incorporate all ingredients.

Add shredded chicken and fresh tomatillo wedges and stir to coat. Reduce heat to simmer and cover. Cook for 15-20 minutes, until chicken is completely heated through and the sauce has reduced slightly.

Remove from heat and serve.

Notes

Serve on top of tostadas with crema mexicana and avocado (as pictured in this recipe); or with a side of rice, as tacos or inside of a quesadilla (known as tingadillas).

This post is part of a compensated campaign with the National Pork Board, but all opinions and the recipe here are my own.

Slow-cooker carnitas are great for an easy weeknight family dinner or for a weekend gathering. This is a super simple meal with only four ingredients that you can also prepare in advance and reheat.

Carnitas are typically a true nose-to-tail kind of dish where almost the entire pig is used. My husband loves this recipe and says that it’s similar to ordering maciza, which is mostly lean and white meat. If you’re used to eating carnitas and order “surtido” (which includes a little bit of everything), you can simulate that by buying a pork shoulder that has a cap of fat on one side. The fat will partially cook down and melt in the slow-cooker, and the soft remains left over at the end can be chopped up and mixed in with the shredded meat. (And you can use some of the liquid fats to moisten the meat before storing, so it doesn’t dry out when reheated, too.)

This recipe is made with pork shoulder which can also be called Boston butt roast or pork butt, depending on the region of the U.S. where you live. In Mexico, this area of the pig is often called espaldilla or cabeza de lomo, which are adjacent cuts that come from the top of the front legs of the pig and just above. These cuts are typically well-marbled and are very versatile, but the best way to use them, in my opinion, is to cook them low and slow (at a low temperature over a long period of time) so that the meat becomes fork-tender.

If you’re not very familiar with pork shoulder, you may have already eaten it before without even realizing it; when you buy ground pork from the grocery store, it’s oven made from pork shoulder. And it makes great chorizo!

If you can’t find a boneless roast, you can buy a little larger piece to account for the weight of the bone. You can cook it the same way, just leaving the bone in, and then remove the bone before serving. A bonus to cooking this cut low and slow: you can also render your own pork fat—the same way you would with bacon—and transfer to a jar and store in the refrigerator.

This recipe serves four people for a light meal (about three tacos each), or two people for a larger meal. If you wish to serve more people, or simply have more leftovers, you can double the size of the pork roast to 4 pounds, add three slices of thick-cut bacon and two more dried bay leaves.

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¡Bienvenidos!

Hi, I'm Maura Hernández. Welcome to my kitchen! I'm an award-winning food and travel blogger, recipe developer, and journalist sharing my passion for all things Mexico. Married to a Chilango, I've traveled Mexico extensively for the last decade. On The Other Side of The Tortilla, you'll find a mix of traditional and modern Mexican cooking, along with my advice on where to eat, stay and play on your visit to Mexico! READ MORE ABOUT ME...

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